A data breach in a small county in central Wisconsin potentially exposed the personal information of 258,120 people spread across eight counties. Officials in Adams County — population 20,185 — announced Friday that the names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and other identifying information collected between January 2013 and March 2018 had been exposed. [...] The personal information of county employees was also exposed.

While Bradley said there's no evidence the exposed data has been used for any malign purposes, the county is trying to publicize the breach statewide as it included residents across such a wide area.

Bradley said the county has brought in outside consultants to review the data breach refine its cybersecurity policies. He declined to go into specifics, though he said the response will likely include employee training and the acquisition of new security software.